

PR 

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Class _ 
Book._.J?r5. 
Copyright ]^° 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



R. L. STEVENSON 

A CHRISTMAS SERMON 

^S TRIPLEX 

PRAYERS WRITTEN 
AT VAILIMA 



PRAYERS WRITTEN AT VAILIMA 

BY 

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 



PRAYERS 

WRITTEN AT VAILIMA 

BY 

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 

WITH 

AN INTRODUCTION BY 

MRS. STEVENSON 




NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER's SONS 

MDCCCCIIII 



COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS 



^& 



LIBRaKY at CONGRESS 
Two Cupiee Recaived 

MAR 23 1904 

J Cof*yrigrht Entry 
CLASS ^ XXc. Na 
CO»»Y B 



D. B. UPDIKE, THE MERRYMOUNT PRESS, BOSTON 



(^ 



CONTENTS 

FOR SUCCESS I 
FOR GRACE 3 
. vAT MORNING 4 
^^ EVENING 5 
ANOTHER FOR EVENING 7 
IN TIME OF RAIN 8 
ANOTHER IN TIME OF RAIN 9 
BEFORE A TEMPORARY SEPARA- 
TION 10 
FOR FRIENDS II 
FOR THE FAMILY 12 
SUNDAY 14 
FOR SELF-BLAME 16 
FOR SELF-FORGETFULNESS 18 
FOR RENEWAL OF JOY 19 



INTRODUCTION 

IN every Samoan household the day 
is closed with prayer and the sing- 
ing of hymns. The omission of this sa- 
cred duty would indicate not only a 
lack of religious training in the house 
chief, but a shameless disregard of all 
that is reputable in Samoan social life. 
No doubt, to many, the evening service 
is no more than a duty fulfilled. The 
child who says his prayer at his mo- 
ther s knee can have no real conception 
of the meaning of the words he lisps 
so readily, yet he goes to his little bed 
with a sense of heavenly protection that 
he would miss were the prayer forgot- 
ten. The average Samoan is but a 



large?' child in most things, and would 
lay an uneasy head on his wooden pil- 
low if he had not joined, even perfunc- 
torily, in the evening service. With my 
husband, prayer, the diredl appeal, was 
a necessity. When he was happy he felt 
impelled to offer thanks for that un- 
deserved joy; when in sorrow, or pain, 
to call for strength to bear what must 
be borne. 

Vailima lay up some three miles of 
con tinual rise from Apia , and more than 
half that distance from^ the nearest vil- 
lage. It was a long way for a tired man 
to walk down every evening with the 
sole purpose of joining in family wor- 
ship ; and the road through the bush was 
dark, and, to the Samoan imagination, 
beset with supernatural terrors. Where- 
l viii ] 



fore, as soon as our household had fallen 
into a regular routine, and the bonds of 
Samoan family life began to draw us 
more closely together, Tusitalafelt the 
necessity of including our retainers in 
our evening devotions. I suppose ours 
was the only white man's family in all 
Samoa, except those of the mission- 
aries, where the day naturally ended 
with this homely, patriarchal custom. 
Not only were the religious scruples of 
the natives satisfied, but what zve did 
not foresee, our own respedtability — 
and incidentally that of our retainers — 
became assured, and the influence of 
Tusitala increased tenfold. 

After all work and meals were 
finished, the ''pu," or war conch, was 
sounded from the back veranda and the 



front, so that it might be heard by all. 
I don't think it ever occurred to us that 
there was any incongruity in the use of 
the war conch for the peaceful invita- 
tion to prayer. In response to its sum- 
mons the white members of the family 
took their usual places, in one end of 
the large hall, while the Samoans — 
men, women and children — trooped in 
through all the open doors, some carry- 
ing lanterns if the evening were dark, 
all moving quietly and dropping with 
Samoan decorum in a wide semicircle 
on the floor beneath a great lamp that 
hung from the ceiling. The service be- 
gan by my son reading a chapter from 
the Samoan Bible, Tusitala following 
with a prayer in English, sometimes 
impromptu, but more often from the 

1^1 



notes in this little book, interpolating, 
or changing with the circumstances of 
the day. Then came the singing of one 
or more hymns in the native tongue, 
and the recitation in concert of the 
Lord's Prayer, also in Samoan. Many 
of these hymns were set to ancient tunes 
very wild and warlike and strangely 
at variance with the missionary words. 
Sometimes a passing band of hostile 
warriors, with blackened faces , would 
peer in at us through the open win- 
dows, and often we were forced to pause 
until the strangely savage, monotonous 
noise of the native drums had ceased; 
but no Samoan, nor, I trust, white per- 
son , changed his reverent attitude. Once, 
I remember a look of surprised dismay 

crossing the countenance of Tusitala 
Cxi 3 



zvhen my son, contrary to his usual 
custom of reading the next chapter fol- 
lowing that of yesterday , turned back 
the leaves of his Bible to find a chapter 
fiercely denunciatory, and only too ap- 
plicable to the foreign dictators of dis- 
tracted Samoa. On another occasion the 
chief, himself, brought the service to a 
sudden check. He had just learned of 
the treacherous conduct of one in whom 
he had every reason to trust. That even- 
ing the prayer seemed unusually short 
and formal. As the singing stopped he 
arose abruptly and left the room. I has- 
tened after him, fearing some sudden 
illness. " What is it?" I asked. " It is 
this,'' was the reply ; *' lam not yet fit to 
say ' Forgive us our trespasses as we for- 
give those who trespass against us.'** 



It is with natural reluctance that I 
touch upon the last prayer of my hus- 
band's life. Many have supposed that 
he showed, in the wording of this prayer, 
that he had some premonition of his ap- 
proaching death. I am sure he had no 
such premonition. It was I who told 
the assembled family that I felt an im- 
pending disaster approaching nearer 
and nearer. Any Scot will understand 
that my statement was received seri- 
ously. It could not be, we thought, that 
danger threatened any one within the 
house; but Mr. Graham Balfour, my 
husband's cousin, very near and dear to 
us, was away on a perilous cruise. Our 
fears followed the various vessels, more 
or less unseaworthy, in which he was 

making his way from island to island 
[ xiii ] 



to the atoll where the exiled king, Ma- 
taafa, was at that time imprisoned. In 
my husband's last prayer, the night be- 
fore his death, he asked that we should 
be given strength to bear the loss of this 
dear friend, should such a sorrow befall 
us. 




PRAYERS 

For Succefs 

'ORD, behold our family here 
assembled. We thank Thee 
for this place in which we 
dwell ; for the love that unites us ; for 
the peace accorded us this day ; for 
the hope with which we expeft the 
morrow ; for the health , the work , the 
food, and the bright skies, that make 
our lives delightful ; for our friends in 
all parts of the earth, and our friendly 
helpers in this foreign isle. Let peace 
abound in our small company. Purge 
out of every heart the lurking grudge. 
Give us grace and strength to for- 
bear and to persevere. Offenders, 
give us the grace to accept and to for- 
give offenders. Forgetful ourselves, 

CO 



help us to bear cheerfully the forget- 
fulness of others. Give us courage 
and gaiety and the quiet mind. Spare 
to us our friends, soften to us our ene- 
mies. Bless us, if it may be, in all our 
innocent endeavours. If it may not, 
give us the strength to encounter that 
which is to come, that we be brave 
in peril, constant in tribulation, tem- 
perate in wrath, and in all changes 
of fortune, and down to the gates of 
death, loyal and loving one to an- 
other. As the clay to the potter, as 
the windmill to the wind, as children 
of their sire, we beseech of Thee this 
help and mercy for Christ's sake. 



CO 




For Grace 

RANT that we here before 
Thee may be set free from 
the fear of vicissitude and the 
fear of death , may finish what remains 
before us of our course without dis- 
honour to ourselves or hurt to others, 
and, when the day comes, may die in 
peace. Deliver us from fear and fa- 
vour: from mean hopes and cheap 
pleasures. Have mercy on each in his 
deficiency ; let him be not cast down ; 
support the stumbling on the way, 
and give at last rest to the weary. 



ts-2 



At Morning 

5J^™jgHE day returns and brings 
^M K^ us the petty round of irri- 
^i^s'^y^ taring concerns and duties. 
Help us to play the man, help us to 
perform them with laughter and kind 
faces, let cheerfulness abound with 
industry. Give us to go blithely on our 
business all this day, bring us to our 
resring beds weary and content and 
undishonoured, and grant us in the 
end the gift of sleep. 



1:43 




Evening 

E come before Thee, O Lord, 
in the end of thy day with 
thanksgiving. 

Our beloved in the far parts of the 
earth, those who are now beginning 
the labours of the day what time we 
end them, and those with whom the 
sun now stands at the point of noon, 
bless, help, console, and prosper 
them. 

Our guard is relieved, the service 
of the day is over, and the hour come 
to rest. We resign into thy hands 
our sleeping bodies, our cold hearths 
and open doors. Give us to awake 
with smiles, give us to labour smiling. 
As the sun returns in the east, so let 
our patience be renewed with dawn ; 
as the sun lightens the world, so let 

[51! 



our loving-kindness make bright this 
house of our habitation. 



C6] 




Another for Evening 

[ORD, receive our supplica- 
tions for this house, family, 
and country. Proteft the in- 
nocent, restrain the greedy and the 
treacherous, lead us out of our tribu- 
lation into a quiet land. 

Look down upon ourselves and up- 
on our absent dear ones. Help us and 
them ; prolong our days in peace and 
honour. Give us health, food, bright 
weather, and light hearts. In what we 
meditate of evil, frustrate our will; 
in what of good, further our endea- 
vours. Cause injuries to be forgot and 
benefits to be remembered. 

Let us lie down without fear and 
awake and arise with exultation. For 
his sake, in whose words we now 
conclude. 




In Time of Rain 

E thank Thee, Lord, for the 
glory of the late days and 
the excellentfaceof thy sun. 
We thank Thee for good news re- 
ceived. We thank Thee for the plea- 
sures we have enjoyed and for those 
we have been able to confer. 1 And 
now, when the clouds gather and the 
rain impends over the forest and our 
house, permit us not to be cast down ; 
let us not lose the savour of past mer- 
cies and past pleasures ; but, like the 
voice of a bird singing in the rain, let 
grateful memory survive in the hour 
of darkness. If there be in front of us 
any painful duty, strengthen us with 
the grace of courage ; if any aft of 
mercy, teach us tenderness and pa- 
tience. 

[8] 




Another in Time of Rain 

'ORD, Thou sendest down 
rain upon the uncounted 
millions of the forest, and 
givest the trees to drink exceedingly. 
We are here upon this isle a few hand- 
fuls of men, and how many myriads 
upon myriadsof stalwart trees ! Teach 
us the lesson of the trees. The sea 
around us, which this rain recruits, 
teems with the race offish; teach us. 
Lord, the meaning of the fishes. Let 
us see ourselves for what we are, one 
out of the countless number of the 
clans of thy handiwork. When we 
would despair, let us remember that 
these also please and serve Thee. 



C93 



Before a Temporary Separation 



^^=^gO-DAY we go forth sepa- 
^n ^^ rate, some of us to pleasure, 
^^»^% some of us to worship, some 
upon duty. Go with us, our guide and 
angel ; hold Thou before us in our di- 
vided paths the mark of our low call- 
ing, still to be true to what small best 
we can attain to. Help us in that, our 
maker, the dispenser of events — 
Thou, of the vast designs, in which 
we blindly labour, suffer us to be so 
far constant to ourselves and our be- 
loved. 



Cio] 




For Friends 

OR our absent loved ones we 
implore thy loving-kind- 
ness. Keep them in life, keep 
them in growing honour ; and for us, 
grant that we remain worthy of their 
love. For Christ's sake, let not our 
beloved blush for us , nor we for them . 
Grant us but that, and grant us cour- 
age to endure lesser ills unshaken, 
and to accept death, loss, and disap- 
pointment as it were straws upon the 
tide of life. 



CiO 



LefC. 




For the Family 

ID us, if it be thy will, in our 
concerns. Have mercy on 
this land and innocent peo- 
ple. Help them who this day contend 
in disappointment with their frailties. 
Bless our family, bless our forest 
house, bless our island helpers. Thou 
who hast made for us this place of 
ease and hope, accept and inflame our 
gratitude ; help us to repay, in service 
one to another, the debt of thine un- 
merited benefits and mercies, so that 
when the period of our stewardship 
draws to a conclusion, when the win- 
dows begin to be darkened, when the 
bond of the family is to be loosed, 
there shall be no bitterness of re- 
morse in our farewells. 

Help us to look back on the long 



way that Thou hast brought us, on 
the long days in which we have been 
served not according to our deserts 
but our desires ; on the pit and the 
miry clay, the blackness of despair, 
the horror of miscondu6l,from which 
our feet have been plucked out. For 
our sins forgiven or prevented, for 
our shame unpublished, we bless and 
thank Thee, O God. Help us yet 
again and ever. So order events, so 
strengthen our frailty, as that day by 
day we shall come before Thee with 
this song of gratitude, and in the end 
we be dismissed with honour. In their 
weakness and their fear, the vessels 
of thy handiwork so pray to Thee, so 
praise Thee. Amen. 



C^3^ 




Sunday 

E beseech Thee, Lord, to be- 
hold us with favour, folk of 
many families and nations 
gathered together in the peace of this 
roof, weak men and women subsist- 
ing under the covert of thy patience. 
Be patient still ; suffer us yet awhile 
longer; — with our broken purposes 
of good, with our idle endeavours 
against evil, suffer us awhile longer 
to endure and ( if it may be ) help us 
to do better. Bless to us our extraor- 
dinary mercies ; if the day come when 
these must be taken, brace us to play 
the man under affliction. Bewith our 
friends, be with ourselves. Go with 
each of us to rest ; if any awJKe, tem- 
per to them the dark hours of watch- 
ing ; and when the day returns, re- 



turn to us, our sun and comforter, and 
call us up with morning faces and 
with morning hearts — eager to la- 
bour — eager to be happy, if happi- 
ness shall be our portion — and if the 
day be marked for sorrow, strong to 
endure it. 

We thank Thee and praise Thee ; 
and in the words of him to whom this 
day is sacred, close our oblation. 



Cis] 




For Self- Blame 

'ORD, enlighten us to see the 
beam that is in our own eye, 
and blind us to the mote that 
is in our brother's. Let us feel our 
offences with our hands, make them 
great and bright before us like the 
sun, make us eat them and drink them 
for our diet. Blind us to the offences 
of our beloved, cleanse them from 
our memories, take them out of our 
mouths for ever. Let all here before 
Thee carry and measure with the 
false balances of love, and be in their 
own eyes and in all conjunftures the 
most guilty. Help us at the same time 
with the grace of courage, that we be 
none of us cast down when we sit la- 
menting amid the ruins of our happi- 
ness or our integrity : touch us with 



fire from the altar, that we may be 
up and doing to rebuild our city: in 
the name and by the method of him 
in whose words of prayer we now 
conclude. 



cnn 




For Self-Forgetfulnefs 

ORD, the creatures of thy 
hand, thy disinherited chil- 
dren, come before Thee 
with their incoherent wishes and re- 
grets : Children we are, children we 
shall be, till our mother the earth hath 
fed upon our bones. Accept us, cor- 
re6l us, guide us, thy guilty innocents. 
Dry our vain tears, wipe out our vain 
resentments, help our yet vainer ef- 
forts. If there be any here, sulking as 
children will, deal with and enlighten 
him. Make it day about that person, 
so that he shall see himself and be 
ashamed. Make it heaven about him. 
Lord, by the only way to heaven, for- 
getfulness of self, and make it day 
about his neighbours, so that they 
shall help, not hinder him. 

c;i8 3 




For Renewal of Joy 

E are evil, O God, and help 
us to see it and amend. We 
are good, and help us to be 
better. Look down upon thy servants 
with a patient eye, even as Thou 
sendest sun and rain; look down, call 
upon the dry bones, quicken, enliven; 
recreate in us the soul of service, the 
spirit of peace; renew in us the sense 
of joy. 



[19] 



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